Beauty and the Simpleton
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: I came at this after having a dream about this. Fluffy and cute. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Take That Bet

**Chapter 1: Take That Bet**

District 11 University is beautiful in early May. The cornstalks from bumper crops are beginning to gain in height. There is a healthy supply of food for everyone. And I adore being a student as I stroll about the sun-kissed, brick-red pathways and near the end of my junior year of undergrad.

My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am 21 years old. I am a part of Sigma Eu sorority. My boyfriend, Cato Ludwig, is captain of the football team. Life is idyllic.

I have plenty of friends, and people have said that everyone on campus wants to be my friend, it seems. And I welcome everyone, regardless of what kind of baggage or life history they might bring with them.

That includes the young man whom I see coming out of Mitchell Hall, the main academic building on campus. He has blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. His name is Peeta Mellark, and he is a sentimental favorite here. Although for me, I have known him in our native District 12, the neighboring district over, since we were both five years old. I know why he is so favored: he has special needs. Nobody quite knows what his diagnosis is, but I have heard rumors that he has PDD-NOS, which stands for Pervasive Development Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. A doctor's fancy way of saying that he's on the Spectrum, they just don't know where. He might have some Asperger-like tendencies, some Autism. It's just a big mix.

His parents died years ago, leaving his middle brother, Rye, to take care of the family. The oldest son, Leven, is clearly Autistic. But Peeta always seemed to be trapped between the two worlds that his brothers each inhabited, one normal, the other... special. The Mellarks worked hard to get Peeta into this university, and though it is not local, Peeta gets plenty of help from Student Services and other members of the administration.

Peeta now sees me and waves. "Hi, Katniss. Guess what? I just finished my exam for Poly. Sci. 222 - Student and Local Government!" He says it all very detailed and his cadence is a little slower than most other people. But his beaming smile and bubbly personality are infectious.

"Good job!" I give him a hug. "You're last one, right?"

"Yup!"

"Rest easy, now, and start packing! Have a great summer!"

Then I go into the building to take my last exam.

* * *

Later, the exam is out of my head, and I am packing up my room in Sigma Eu sorority. The other girls are flitting about, trying to shut down the house. They are also whispering and sharing in the latest gossip.

"Did you see Peeta Mellark this morning?"

"Yes, he said he finished his last exam!"

"How has he stayed three years here?"

"Oh, I think it's great! That child is precious!"

"Sure - preciously not all there!" Some of the girls laugh.

"If he barely knows his way around Mitchell Hall, I bet he doesn't know his way around a bed!" Cashmere Ritchson, our President, muses. "Why, I bet he's still a virgin, and will be until graduation. For life!"

"You don't know that," I find myself saying quietly, annoyed that Cashmere would make fun of anyone like that. Cashmere stares at me, then dramatically gasps.

"Why, girls! How adorable! I think our dear sister knows more of Peeta Mellark's sex life than she is letting on! Have you,,,,, been with him, Katniss, dear? I bet not!"

"I'll take that bet," I find myself saying, hoping it will get Cashmere to shut her big fat mouth. But it only makes my hole deeper. Cashmere grin triumphantly.

"All right, Katniss. I'll make you a deal: if, by the end of the summer, you have slept with Peeta, we will all be honor-bound to elect you President of the sorority. If not, you have to publicly break up with Cato at the Homecoming Game!"

I stare around at my sorority sisters. I don't want to look like a coward, but I also don't want to hurt my friend. But I am trapped like a rat. So I give the only answer I can give: "Done."

Cashmere smiles sweetly. Sickly sweet. "Oh, and Katniss dear: you need to provide proof. Stained panties, something like that. And have a great summer!"

* * *

As an RA, it is my job to patrol all the dormitories and make sure everyone is checked out at the end of each semester. Everyone seems to have already left, except for Peeta Mellark, standing out in the hallway with all the stuff from his room piled up around him.

"Rye coming to get you?" I ask.

"With Leven in tow. But it takes a couple of hours for him to drive to District 11 University. And there's traffic."

I frown. I actually have room to spare in my car. "Maybe I can take you. I'll be driving through the night. My treat."

Peeta nods eagerly, beaming, and places a call on his cell phone. Handing me the receiver, I speak to Rye and let him know I will be bringing Peeta home. I help Peeta load his stuff into the back of my van. And, with him riding shotgun, we take off for the border with District 12 and our home beyond.


	2. Chapter 2: Under An Overpass

**Chapter 2: Under An Overpass**

The rain is falling in sheets as Peeta and I drive through the night. We probably won't reach home until morning. We talk all the way along, so it is hardly boring. But eventually, I have to fall silent as I concentrate on the road. The rain is now falling so hard, the windshield wipers have absolutely no effect. At last, I spy an overpass and pull over underneath it, watching the other cars pass by far too fast and far too dangerously.

By now, Peeta is bouncing nervously and chancing glances out the window. I wonder if thunderstorms make him nervous. "I hope I get my grades soon, Katniss. I really hope that my Poly Sci exam went well."

"I'm sure you did well," I wave away.

"Yeah, otherwise it will confirm what I already know: I'm a failure. How have I lasted here for three years?"

I stare at him. "What do you mean?"

"What I said: I'm a failure."

"That's not true, Peeta!" I say sternly.

"Compared to you, I am! You're... you know... wonderful," he fishes for the word, saying it almost in awe. "You're the only one who is nice to me without pitying me!"

I feel my face grow hot as my expression goes wide with shock and I glance away. "Don't make so much of me, Peeta..." I whisper.

"It's true," he looks at me intensely. "When I'm around you, Katniss, it feels like my disability disappears."

I turn to look at him, stunned but my eyes suddenly grow tender. I lean across the seats and kiss him. Press my lips to his in a deep kiss. Peeta moans and I feel him kiss me back. I open my mouth to him and pry his open with mine, slipping my tongue in between the split.

I am soon unbuckling my seatbelt and rolling into his seat, pushing him flat into the cushion of the chair as I move to straddle him. This is it. This is the moment. If I keep my wits about me, I can win the bet hours after it has been set. I strip Peeta of his clothing before de-robing myself.

I come down on him, my vagina sinking around his member. Peeta and I kiss tenderly, our lips disengaging and re-engaging with every collide of our rapidly sweating bodies.

All the while, Peeta is tentative in the way he handles me. Tender. Attentive. Tame. Gentle. As we make love, he always asks me permission before touching me in an intimate area. "Is this all right, Katniss?"

I let him touch my vagina. My bare breasts. As he kisses my face, I close my eyes in abject pleasure and actually beam. As Peeta takes the perky nipples of my breasts into his mouth, I wail out his name and orgasm around him.

Peeta is moaning, his eyes rolling into the back of his head, as if he is still working out just what he is doing. He pounds into me desperately, frantically, with his inexperience clearly showing. But at last, he groans like nothing I have ever heard from Cato as he ejaculates into me. We fall asleep into each other's arms.

The next morning, the sun shines through the windshield, refracting off the last of the water droplets of rain. I stir awake in Peeta's arms, both of us wrapped in nothing but a towel. I look up to see him smiling down at me. "Good morning," I purr.

"Good morning," and when he kisses me, I think he is amazed that I let him.

We break apart, both of us completely naked. I can see that a thin sheen of blood is coating Peeta's member, which is very handsome. I suddenly remember. "Wait!" Taking my panties, I clean his member with it of his blood. Or it might be my blood. Or both of ours. I can't tell which. But at least I will have proof for Cashmere that I have been with him. As I stuff the panties into one of my backpacks, I suddenly get another idea.

There is still blood on Peeta's member. So, pushing him flat and then lying on top of him so that none of the passing cars can see us, I take him in my mouth. I first taste the rusty tang of the remaining blood, which I quickly lap up by lolling out my tongue as I close my eyes in pleasure. Recalling whispers from my sorority sisters, I curl my fist around the base of his shaft and begin to stroke him as my lips and tongues envelop and attend to his foreskin.

Peeta's hands curl into my hair, sinking into my scalp. He begins to moan almost pathetically - perhaps he isn't sure just what this is (a blowjob of the highest order) - and thrust his pelvis desperately into my face. At last, with a cry, he cums. I swallow every last drop of what he gives me and once I extract myself from his shaft, I lick my fingers clean one by one.

Redressing, we drive the rest of the way to District 12 in silence. I drop him off at his place first, before I will turn around and drive a little bit back to reach my parents' house. Rye and Leven are waiting outside, and greet their baby brother before heading back inside as Peeta and I work together to unload his stuff. Back in the drivers' seat, I wish him goodbye. I suddenly dare to pull him to me and kiss him farewell. It's only fair. "Have a great summer."

I only start crying for reasons that I do not yet know when his house is in the rearview mirror.


	3. Chapter 3: Breasts Balloon, Stomach Swel

**Chapter 3: Breasts Balloon, Stomach Swells**

And I still have not stopped crying weeks later at the theatre I'm working at over the summer, as I stay bent over the toilet bowl throwing up yet again.

At first, I thought it was a stomach bug. But when a friendly colleague handed me a pregnancy test after my tenth trip to the bathroom, I suddenly know better.

It doesn't take long for me to realize that I am pregnant. And I know by whom. By Peeta. I can already see my breasts ballooning. Feel my stomach swelling as his baby - _our_ baby - grows inside of me.

Around mid-July, I bravely tell my parents. My mother is sympathetic, my baby sister Prim is horrified. My father is enraged. "And you want to keep the baby of a... a..." he splutters.

"A what, Daddy?" I snarl, rising from the couch. "Go on! Say it!"

Daddy doesn't. He doesn't have the guts to utter that slur 'retard' to describe the father of his unborn grandchild. So he storms off instead. Mother nows sits down beside me as I collapse in tears all over again.

"Is Peeta really worth your reputation?"

I touch myself where his hands touched me, remembering what a gentleman he was. I sniffle. "Yes. He was really sweet and gentle with me. He's my friend. He is a kind boy. A good man," I correct. Special needs or not, he'll be a father in several months. And in fact, I don't want to abort the baby, as I clutch at my womb as if to shield our baby from the world. I would consider it an honor, in fact, to have Peeta Mellark's child. "Oh, Mama, I've ruined his life!"

* * *

School will start back in a few weeks. I am at the mall to celebrate my weekend away from the theatre. When who should I run into but Cashmere and my sorority sisters. And they have not forgotten our bet from May.

"Have you been with Mellark yet?" Cashmere demands. "I want proof, Katniss, dear!"

I feel my face go red with rage. I happen to have the stained panties with me, as a reminder of what got me to where I am now. But I don't use it. I have another card to play. So I pull up the baggy sweater I have been wearing even though it's August, to reveal my three-months pregnant stomach. It looks bruised a little, because the baby has been growing healthily. "There is your proof!"

Cashmere goes white. The other girls gasp, hands to their mouths. Then they bolt, whipping out their phones to gossip and tell everyone within a cell phone's radius the news.

All at once, someone grabs my hands and drags me into a dark corner of the mall. I only just have time to recognize the blonde hair and blue eyes before the breath leaves my body, as Peeta Mellark kisses me until I am gasping for air.

"You're pregnant? Really?" And his boyish exuberance can't help but make me smile as I guide his hands to my stomach.

"That's our baby, Peeta."

Peeta suddenly pulls out a small object from his pocket. "I probably should get a new one, a better one."

"Don't you dare," I smile, before even realizing what he is holding. So it is we ask each other at the same time:

"Will you marry me?" Then, the answer, also simultaneously: "Yes."

* * *

Peeta and I have a normal church wedding. All our families who are living are there. My father walks me down the aisle, by now forgiven. Peeta and I sign the marriage documents, clad in a tuxedo and white dress, respectively. Then, we kiss and everyone dutifully applauds.

I am a wife now. And in several months, I will be a mother.

Unfortunately, I am also still only a rising college senior. Which means I have a matter of weeks, even days, to plan Peeta's and my life once we both get back to campus.

For starters: where are we going to live?


	4. Chapter 4: Married Student Housing

**Chapter 4: Married Student Housing**

"Hi. Katniss... Mellark," I still am growing used to my married name. "My husband and I inquired about married student housing?"

The check-in lady on Move-In day nods. "Yes, and you are both registered with Student Disability Services?"

"Yes, ma'am." I get our key and slip Peeta's hand in mine. "Let's go, honey," and we move past Cato leading a group of gawkers. I never officially broke up with him, but it's just as well. He was a jerk.

Living and sleeping with a man, performing duties as a wife has made me age ten years, it feels. I soon view student tasks as childish; even homework seems quite passé. I continue activities at the sorority but far less frequently. I feel the change in my maturity and demeanor no more acutely than when I crawl into bed next to my husband and feel his arms around my baby bump and I murmur, "Good night."

* * *

In February, less than 100 days away from my graduation, the baby is born.

I name her Charlotte, and Peeta brings me homework from all four courses we take together. Despite my being in the hospital, we remain inseparable. Rue and Leven step up and take care of the baby in a rented apartment close to campus until I can get my degree, which I do when my daughter is three months old.

* * *

The following year, my 15-month-old toddler and I watch as his name is called. "Peeta Joseph Mellark!"

"Look, there's Daddy!" I help Charlotte wave as everyone cheers as my husband of almost two years finally gets his degree. Rue films the moment half a decade in the making. After the ceremony, I give Peeta a deep kiss and the promise of passionate sex later, with our baby girl nestled between us.

"I'm so proud of you. I love you, Peeta."

"And I, you. Always."


End file.
